


E.B.E.

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [17]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:41:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	E.B.E.

_“I have never met anyone as passionate and dedicated to a belief as you. It’s so intense that sometimes it’s blinding. But there are others who are watching you, who know what I know, and whereas I can respect and admire your passion, they will use it against you. Mulder, the truth is out there. But so are lies.”  
“Thank you.”_

For all that she claimed he was blinded by his quest for the truth,  _she_  was the one who refused to accept the evidence even when it was staring her in the face. He could bring a living, breathing alien over for Sunday dinner, and she would still find ways to doubt its existence. If he was going to get to the bottom of this situation with the truck and the wreckage and whatever else was going on, he was going to have to handle it himself.

And yet, though he left her apartment with the intention of heading straight to the airport, he found himself driving toward the office instead.

Her words had, unfortunately, planted a seed of doubt. Wasn’t it only a week or so ago that Reggie had warned him of the same thing, that there were people who would be willing to go out of their way to set him up in an attempt to discredit him? At least if he took the time to have the photo properly analyzed, he would be able to put those doubts to rest. Once it was proven to be genuine, he would be on the next plane to Atlanta.

Four hours later, he was unlocking the door to his office with a frustrated sigh. He was far too tired to safely get himself home, though far too demoralized to do any more work tonight. Scully had been right: the photo was a fake. The lab had confirmed it, the technician unable to hide her smirk even as she told Mulder it was a very  _good_  fake, that she had  _almost_  thought it was real.

He relocked the door behind himself and shoved the photo in a file cabinet, unable to even look at it anymore for the night. All it did now was serve as a reminder that he was a gullible sonofabitch, that there wasn’t anybody he could trust.

But that wasn’t quite right. He may not have been able to trust even his own judgment at the moment, but he still had Scully. He had accused her of being spitefully determined not to believe his contact, when in reality, her instincts had been dead-on. In the morning, she could help him figure out what to do next.

He pulled out the blanket he kept stashed in a cabinet in the back corner of the office and laid it out on the floor. This was far from the first time he’d spent the night here, and it wouldn’t be the last. Despite his frustration, exhaustion won out, and he was asleep in a matter of minutes. He didn’t wake again until his partner opened the door the next morning.


End file.
